RUSTON – There’s a sense of greed that lies within Louisiana Tech head coach Skip Holtz.

That greed, an attribute most college coaches around the country have, is to strive for perfection on every play.

So even when a team dominates in a 52-point win, there’s always something that could have been better.

Holtz took a step back from this Saturday after a 55-3 victory over UTEP to finally realize where the Bulldogs’ true potential lies.

“We are coaches and obviously always want more,” Holtz said. “There is always a play here and there where I thought we could have done more. We have talked about some of the foolish mistakes we have made. We came into this game with the mindset of playing hard for 60 minutes.

“I thought this was the best game we put together from the beginning to the end.”

And it was the closest Tech’s been to perfection all season.

The Bulldogs threw for three touchdowns, forced five turnovers and scored a touchdown on special teams thanks to a blocked field goal.

In some ways, Tech’s performance against UTEP mirrored wins at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and North Texas, except in those games the Bulldogs failed to dominate through the fourth quarter.

Tech outscored UL Lafayette, North Texas and UTEP 114-17 in the first three quarters, yet allowed a combined 28 fourth-quarter points to the Cajuns and Mean Green. Against UTEP, the Bulldogs blanked the Miners during the final 30 minutes.

“What the kids are starting to see is the difference between good and great because of what we did (Saturday),” Tech defensive coordinator Manny Diaz said. “We got distracted at the end and they did not make it look dominating. Our kids understood that and were mad about that.”

Even the end of the game was fitting. Colby Brown intercepted a pass in the end zone as time expired, which capped off the first game Tech hadn’t allowed a touchdown since a 44-0 win over New Mexico State in 2011.

So what exactly allowed Tech to turn its untapped potential into a blowout win? In the eyes of Tech quarterback Cody Sokol, the loss to Northwestern State served as a wake-up call.

“We needed it a little bit as a team,” Sokol said. “It was huge for us going into this week how mentally prepared we needed to be. I think before that, we were kind of lackadaisical on the mental side of the game. We went out there and just played.”

Tech needed the UTEP win, too. With the Bulldogs on their first of two bye weeks, a three-game losing streak would have been hard to swallow heading into next weekend’s home showdown with Texas-San Antonio.

“It was a big game,” Holtz said. “We will go into the bye week and try to get some guys healthy, so we will be ready for our next run. There was some pressure for us in this game to come out here and perform.”

Tech has six games left on the schedule — three home and three away — with the Bulldogs needing just three wins to become bowl eligible.

“There is no time for errors,” said senior wide receiver Hunter Lee. “We just have to keep rolling, making plays and keep playing like we know we can.”